Contemporary Canadian bistro
Restaurant at Birch & Harbour
The restaurant complements the poker experience with relaxed evening dining, a warm harbour-inspired interior and dishes designed for an unhurried meal before or after time at the poker tables.
MENU
The kitchen works from a short list — small plates, larger plates, sides, desserts and a bar list — and takes its last order 30 minutes before closing. Three plates carry the signature mark: the rotisserie chicken for two, the barley-and-mushroom plate and the smoked-trout salad.
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To Start
Small plates for the gap between sitting down and the first hand. The smoked trout toast at C$18 carries the signature mark, with hand-cut chips, beet and chèvre, chicken liver pâté, PEI mussels and a kale and apple salad filling out the list.
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Plates
Seven larger plates running from C$24 to C$68, the top of that range being the rotisserie chicken plated for two. The barley-and-mushroom plate and the smoked trout salad are the other two signatures on this side of the list.
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Sides
Six sides between C$6 and C$11, ordered alongside a plate or across the middle of the table. Hand-cut fries, roast potatoes, butter lettuce, grilled sourdough, charred broccolini and house pickles.
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Desserts
Five desserts, led by the buttermilk panna cotta at C$12 with the signature mark on it. The butter tart at C$8 is the shortest way to close out a night that still has hands left in it.
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Beer & Bar
Six Canadian craft beers on tap, poured into 16-ounce glasses, alongside a house lager, a Caesar, a birch spritz, drip coffee and a pot of loose-leaf tea. The bar sits at the back of the dining room, past the banquettes.
MAINS
Larger plates, priced C$24 to C$68, all served in the dining room. The three signatures are marked on the list itself.
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Rotisserie Chicken for Two
C$68, plated for two people, and one of the three dishes the kitchen marks as a signature. The plate to order when the meal is the point of the evening rather than a break in it.
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Barley & Mushroom Plate
C$26, and a signature. It holds its place on a list that otherwise leans on the rotisserie and the fish, and it is the plate most often ordered alongside a side or two.
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Smoked Trout Salad
C$24, the third signature, and the lighter of the two trout dishes the kitchen runs — the smoked trout toast on the starter list is the other.
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Hanger Steak
C$36. Best suited to an evening that starts in the dining room and moves to a table afterwards, rather than to a plate eaten standing at the rail.
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Pan-Seared Pickerel
C$34, a Canadian fish off the plates list. Served in the dining room only, like everything else the kitchen sends out.
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Braised Lamb Shoulder
C$33, and one of the plates that works when two people are ordering across the list rather than each taking a plate of their own.
SIDES
Six sides, ordered alongside a main or on their own.
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Hand-Cut Fries C$8
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Roast Potatoes C$9
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Butter Lettuce C$10
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Grilled Sourdough C$7
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Charred Broccolini C$11
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House Pickles C$6
DRINKS
Poured at the bar behind the dining room, and carried to the tables by the same runner who carries the food.
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Birch & Harbour Lager
C$8 and the house pour. Brewed for the room rather than picked up as a guest tap, which is why it stays on the list when the other handles rotate.
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Rotating Canadian Draught
C$8.50 a glass, drawn from six Canadian craft beers on tap. Each one is poured into a 16-ounce glass, and the handles change as kegs run out.
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Caesar
C$12, mixed at the bar. Ordered more often before the first hand than between them, since it is not a drink anyone hurries.
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Birch Spritz
C$6, the low-strength option on the list for anyone driving home or settling in for a long session.
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Drip Coffee
C$3.50 a cup, and the drink that keeps a long evening level. A self-serve still water and drip coffee station sits at the end of the host desk, a few steps from the dining room door.
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Pot of Loose-Leaf Tea
C$4 for a pot, served with a second pour in it. The usual order at the end of a deep-stack afternoon rather than the start of a night.
DINING ROOM
The dining room seats 32 on birch plywood banquettes, and a low half-wall separates it from the poker room. The tables stay visible over the top of that wall, so a meal does not take you out of the evening — you can watch a list shorten while you eat, and no one has to stand up to see whether a seat has opened.
Floor staff and dealers wear canvas aprons in the same birch green as the betting line on each table, which is the one piece of the room's colour scheme that walks between the two halves of the venue. The room is built for sitting: plates arrive at a pace that suits a meal, and the kitchen takes its last order 30 minutes before closing.
Tables can be booked up to 60 days ahead by phone at +1 (604) 498-6160 or through the form on the reservations page. A held table lapses 30 minutes past the booked time; parties of 12 or more are asked for a deposit, which comes off the bill. Walk-ins are seated whenever a table is free. The average bill lands between C$40 and C$55 per guest without drinks.
Access to the dining room follows the venue's 18+ policy, checked at the entrance vestibule the same way it is for the tables. Food is served in the restaurant only — nothing leaves the building for delivery, and nothing is set down on the felt.